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Disclaimer

My research is always of a high standard, but can only be as good as documentary evidence allows. Further research, newly available records, or more accurate transcriptions, may disprove earlier findings. I never rely on other people’s research, and I always make sure that you know of any speculation in my work.

Copyright

All material on this website Copyright Sheridan Parsons

Teasmade book by Sheridan Parsons coming in 2018

An article in the local press soon after I started my collection.

My interest in teasmades began in 2000. I wanted to start an unusual collection and I settled on teasmades when I was in a rebellious frame of mind. My first husband always disliked the bulk and noise of teasmades and adamantly refused to let me have one.

My husband now, Mike, has been much more patient with my unusual hobby. It is particularly fitting that the Goblin head office was once based in Parson’s Green, my present surname and my maiden name neatly combined.

As a genealogist, it has always been my delight to uncover the hidden history of teasmades and their entrepreneurial and innovative British inventors. The first known inventor was Charles Maynard Walker in 1891.

Posing in the style of a 1970s Teasmade advert

So what exactly is a teasmade? A teasmade is a bedside appliance which wakes you up in the morning with a hot cup of tea. It combines the functions of an alarm clock and a tea maker.

My teasmade website was launched in 2000. I closed the site down in September 2017. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who emailed information and photographs and supported the website in other ways, especially John Atack, sadly no longer with us, Mike Phelan, and Doug Fennell, an expert on technical matters and Goblin production. Without your help we would never have achieved so much.

My collection just before I started the great downsizing operation!

By 2015 I had gathered the worlds largest collection of teasmades, 172 machines acquired over 15 years of dedicated searching. But then a house move forced me to reduce my unique collection.

I now concentrate on collecting only the oldest, rarest, pre 1950 models. For the record, my favourite teasmades are:

George Absolom Teesmade, made in 1932, with original lamp

Goblin with a yellow teapot, made in 1936, found in pristine condition under a house in Australia

Goblin D20, made in 1947

Two Bakelite Tealarms, made by Concentric, c.1948, one ivory, and one brown